Trying to see if I can do this AE process. I took a small batch (5 gall = 18.9L) of WVO, filtered and dewatered the best I could. Titrated at 15.
Added 1.9L of methanol and 23 mL of sulf acid.

Mixed it for 45 minutes and kept it at 140 deg. for 12 hours (stirring occasionaly) and titr. came down to 10. Turned it off cause I left the house. Came back and heated for 5 hours. Then had to turn it off. Next day I heated it for 12 hours (stirring occasionally), and now it MAY be at 9.

Any advice for what I should do next?
More acid?
Keep heating it?

Steve
-really sounds like the wvo was wet. the ae process doesn't work on wet oil. how did you check for water content before AE? There is no easy way to go forward now, with wet oil. you could put the oil through a good drying process, but you will loose the methanol that is there, It may by easier to just do the base process now, and know the yied will be very poor.
-When you prep the wvo for ae, put it through the same type of drying process that you use fro drying your biodiesel. do not start ae unless the oil passes hpt. Tom

Biotom,
I heated the oil to about 150-160 then let sit and drained a half-gallon off the bottom. Then ran the oil through the pump for awhile which sprays the oil back into the tank over the top. I did not test.
What is hpt? (I'm going with "hot-plate-test"?)

I have a question for you about testing the oil by heating it in a pan to over 212degF. If you see a few tiny bubbles when the oil is, say, about 150-160, is that water?

Steve
-yes, hot pan test. one method is to heat the pan and place a drop of oil and look for any bubbles. Bubbles = water. the one I use is the hot spoon test, it is similar, but more oil is used . I use a lage stainless steel mixing spoon, first heat it with the propane torch, just enough to make sure it is dry. then add the wvo place back over the flame till temp is 240 - 260 any bubbles during heating indicates water.
-If you didn't test for water then we will assume the problem was water. as I said in the previous post, there is no easy fix. If I were in your position I would go ahead with the base process, and use this as a learning experiance. The base process is more tolerant of water than the ae treatment. After processing , do a 5% prewash with the byproduct in, this will help to release the bio that is bound up in the soap, and increase yield. Tom